Chapter 180 Important Clues
This Golden Phoenix Nightclub is indeed not simple.
But Zhou Yi is not a reckless man, he knows that there is nothing he can do now.
Not to mention that money is the most important thing now, even if there is no case now, he can't do anything.
Do you think you can search someone's nightclub based solely on your own observations and speculation? That's just a dream. How do you apply for a search warrant? What's the evidence? I don't even know what happened.
About six or seven minutes passed, during which Manager Hou tried various ways to build a relationship with him, but Zhou Yi remained indifferent.
However, the other party did not change his expression because of this, and was still as enthusiastic as ever. It can be seen that he is a man who can accomplish great things.
Ajie knocked on the door and said that the surveillance had been checked and there were indeed some findings.
Then he respectfully placed a videotape on the tea table and went out, not forgetting to bow to Zhou Yi before leaving.
In this era, there was no high-tech like USB flash drives, and the capacity of floppy disks was too small to store large files such as videos, so they could only be saved on videotapes, which was a very cumbersome process.
Manager Hou picked up the videotape, walked to his desk, inserted it into the VCR, and started fiddling with it.
Zhou Yi didn't move the whole time until Manager Hou called him.
"Officer Zhou, you can come over and take a look."
Zhou Yi then stood up and walked over.
Next to the desk was a state-of-the-art computer and two small television screens, apparently connected to internal surveillance cameras at key locations. But one of the screens was now off, leaving only one lit, connected to a video recorder. The footage was paused at the beginning, showing the scene in the nightclub lobby.
From the time marked above, we can know that this was surveillance footage taken on the night of March 25th.
Zhou Yi pressed the play button on the video recorder and the picture began to move.
In the video, the waiter who was in charge of guiding the way appeared at the gate first, and then a man followed him in. Although the clarity of the surveillance footage was limited, Zhou Yi recognized the face at a glance; it was Su Jun.
About two or three meters behind Su Jun, three more men walked in together.
Since there was no waiter leading the way for these three men, it was certain that they were with Su Jun.
Judging from the surveillance footage, one of the three men was relatively young with long hair, one was slightly fat, and the man walking at the end kept his head down and looked left and right, seeming a little wary.
The surveillance footage was less than a minute long, and the four people followed the waiter inside into the elevator.
Then the picture suddenly froze and jumped to another shot, which was obviously a partial cut and spliced together.
The following scenes are almost the same as those of multiple spliced scenes, which are probably the scenes from the time when several people entered the elevator to the time when they entered the box.
There is no footage from inside the box, which is normal. There are surveillance cameras installed in the box, so who would come here?
The display time of the next few videos is much later than the previous ones, around two or three in the morning, a gap of four or five hours.
When they came out of the box, several people were staggering and hugging each other's shoulders, obviously drunk.
But the person who was walking at the back at the beginning had obviously steady steps and showed no signs of being drunk.
Moreover, this person never raised his head, so he couldn't see the other person's full face at all.
Zhou Yi's intuition told him that this man was no ordinary person.
"Manager Hou, could you please call all the staff who had contact with these four people that day? I need to ask a few questions. Also, I need to take this videotape with me. Is that convenient?"
Manager Hou readily agreed: "No problem, I'll arrange it now."
Soon, Manager Hou called over several waiters in different uniforms, including the guide outside, the waiter in the lobby, and the waitress in the private room.
However, Zhou Yi couldn't help but frown at the waitress's clothes because too much of her body was exposed.
Zhou Yi asked them to watch the video on the computer first, and then asked them about the specific situation of that day.
Zhou Yi discovered two important clues from the three people.
First, the guide said the four people drove a white van that looked a bit old. He couldn't remember the license plate number, but this problem was quickly resolved when Manager Hou explained there were surveillance cameras outside the nightclub. He immediately asked Ajie to retrieve them, and they captured footage of the white van approaching and departing. The outdoor lighting only made the footage less clear, and the license plate numbers were a bit blurry. This was a significant improvement, as they could immediately conduct a targeted investigation.
Second, both the hall waiter and the box waitress confirmed that the man who had never raised his head and shown his face in the previous surveillance video had an obvious scar above his right eye.
He is most likely the same person as the motorcyclist who was in charge of surveillance that Zhou Yi had found out before.
The waitress also provided information that it was this man who was responsible for paying the bill in the end.
Judging from the fact that he was not drunk and paid, he seemed to be the leader of the gang.
But Zhou Yi felt that something was not right. It was unlikely that the leader of a criminal gang would personally do something like surveillance.
The man who called Qian Hongxing looked very much like the leader of this gang, but it was not certain whether he was the same person as Scareyes.
"What did they do in the box?"
The waitress glanced at Manager Hou and said timidly, "Just...drink...and sing."
"Is there anyone who wants to drink with us?" Zhou Yi asked.
“No…no.”
Zhou Yi knew at first glance that the waitress was lying, and the reason for the lie was very simple. It was not a normal drinking companionship, but most likely involved in pornography.
"Are you sure you don't have it?" Zhou Yi asked seriously.
Manager Hou tried to smooth things over, saying, "Officer Zhou, the hostesses here aren't fixed; they're very fluid, so maybe the waiter couldn't remember."
Zhou Yi understood the hidden meaning in these words, which was to tell you that it is impossible for you to find someone to question. I will tell you directly that due to the large turnover of people, I don’t know who accompanied you that day.
Zhou Yi nodded helplessly, but still thought of a solution. He said, "Manager Hou, how about this? Please help me check internally. I don't necessarily need to communicate directly with the people who accompanied me drinking that day. I just need to know if the four people mentioned any private information while drinking that day, including the names of the other three people besides Su Jun, or where they live, what they plan to do, etc. Any information is fine. If you have any questions, please give me a call. I'll leave you a number."
What I meant was, I don't care about the mess in your nightclub, but you have to ask the hostess who was serving drinks that day for me.
Manager Hou immediately agreed, gave Zhou Yi a pen and paper to leave his number, then unloaded the tape from the VCR and handed it to Zhou Yi respectfully.
Manager Hou personally escorted Zhou Yi out the door and rushed to open the car door for him.
Just as Zhou Yi was about to get in the car, Manager Hou took out a box of tea from somewhere.
"Officer Zhou, I saw you really like Mingqian Longjing tea. I've prepared a box for you. Please accept it."
Zhou Yi immediately refused sternly, "Manager Hou, thank you very much for cooperating with our work today. We, the police, also hope to maintain long-term and good relations with companies like yours and contribute to the development of Hongcheng together. However, I'm used to drinking plain water, and drinking tea easily gives me stomachaches. I appreciate your kindness."
Zhou Yi was neither stupid nor blind. He could clearly see the four big words "Special Grade Longjing" on the packaging of the box of tea. He estimated that this box might not even be enough for his monthly salary.
What's more, there was something vaguely like a card in the bag of tea.
Without waiting for Manager Hou to say anything, Zhou Yi got into the car and closed the door.
Manager Hou watched Zhou Yi's car leave, and the smile on his face never changed.
Only when the car was completely out of sight did his smile instantly fade. He took out a black and gold membership card from the gift bag containing tea and put it in his pocket.
Then he took out a latest model mobile phone and dialed a number.
"Hello, Boss, I'm Xiao Hou." Manager Hou bowed humbly and said, "I'm sorry to disturb your rest so late, but I still want to report something to you."
"Just now, a policeman came to the nightclub. His name is Zhou Yi. He's the one who saved people on the TV news last time."
"Yes, he's from the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Municipal Bureau. He said he's from the Third Brigade. His leader should be Wu Yongcheng."
"Yes, someone came here and asked us to help investigate a case. He wanted to see our surveillance."
"Don't worry, I didn't let him see it. I just gave him the clips he needed. I made sure no other guests were involved."
"It's not coming towards us, I'm sure."
A deep voice asked on the phone, "Did you prepare a gift for him?"
Manager Hou said, "He gave it to me, but he didn't accept it. I put the gift in the bag of tea, but he didn't even look at it."
There was a long silence on the phone, and Manager Hou didn't even dare to breathe.
"If this person comes again next time, tell me the first time."
“Okay, boss!”
After hanging up the phone, Manager Hou looked in the direction where Zhou Yi's car had long disappeared, and his eyes gradually became cold.
…
Zhou Yi drove straight to the Municipal Bureau. Although he spent a long time in the Golden Phoenix Nightclub, the value of the clues he obtained was enormous.
He had two videotapes in his pocket, one containing the faces of two other men besides Su Jun and Scarface, as well as a video of the white van.
The value of these two clues is like a bright light in the dark night.
Although the entire Hongcheng police force has been mobilized, the police do not have any video footage of any members of this criminal gang except Liu Jianshe and Su Jun. The most they know are the two characteristics of scar eyes and snake tattoos.
The large-scale search under such circumstances is more like the blind men touching an elephant, including the van with its license plate obscured.
Liu Jianshe and Su Jun are not the core of this criminal gang, but more like tools. Their current situation is still unknown.
But now with the video and license plate number of the two kidnappers, it's like turning on a searchlight for all the police officers searching, letting them know which direction to look.
Zhou Yi reported the discovery of these two clues to Wu Yongcheng, who was immediately overjoyed.
"Nothing happened at the Golden Phoenix Nightclub, right?" Wu Yongcheng asked.
"Don't worry, Captain Wu, nothing happened."
"I'm afraid you'll tell me: Captain Wu, something happened again." Zhou Yi's discovery obviously made Wu Yongcheng feel much better.
"By the way, Zhou Yi, there's another major discovery. What do you think Liu Jianshe hid?"
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